Austrian Fedor “CrownUpGuy” Holz wins Main Event. Alan “Mr Negreanu” takes home Player of the Series honors.
By: David Huber
The 2014 PokerStars World Championship of Online Poker (WCOOP) came to a conclusion Tuesday; surpassing its total guarantee by over 50% after awarding a total of $61,934,886 in prize pool funds.
This year’s marquee online poker tournament series spanned 66 events and offered a range of games that included Texas Hold’em, Omaha, Seven Card Stud, Draw Poker, and Badugi.
Austrian Fedor Holz Earns WCOOP Main Event Victory
Rising online tournament star Fedor “CrownUpGuy” Holz outlasted a field of of 2,142 players in the $5,200 buy-in WCOOP Main Event to take home the top prize of $1.3 million after 37 hours of play.
The victory was by far the Austrian’s largest career online event cash. “I always wanted to run deep in such a tournament and it feels amazing to win the biggest tournament of the year,” Holz told PokerStarsBlog after the event had wrapped up.
Main Event players reached a six-way deal at the final table following approximately 30 minutes of negotiations, and the final payout structure was as follows:
- Fedor “CrownUpGuy” Holz – $1,300,000
- Yuri “theNERDguy” Martins – $708,251
- Claas “neckbr4ke” Stoob – $651,431
- Elior “Crazy Elior” Sion – $780,228
- Faraz “The-Toilet 0” Jaka – $945,000
- Daniel “19Dan86” Rudd – $769,814
Alan “Mr Negreanu” Gold Named 2014 WCOOP Player of the Series
Alan Gold of the United Kingdom cashed in 17 WCOOP events this year on his way to becoming the Player of the Series. His first place prizes include 2015 PokerStars Caribbean Adventure, EPT Grand Final, and TCOOP Main Event packages along with a championship trophy provided by PokerStars.
Gold, who chose his screen name more than a decade ago after watching Daniel Negreanu compete in a televised event more than a decade ago, has been playing poker professionally for approximately 11 years according to an interview with PokerStars Blog.
Canadians Edge Out Russia and United Kingdom in Key WCOOP Statistical Categories
Canadian PokerStars players topped three key statistical categories in the 2014 WCOOP by taking home more than $9 million in prize money, cashing nearly 2,000 times, and reaching 76 final tables.
A look at the country-based breakdown of total cashes in this year’s Series shows Canada on top by a margin of over $2 million.
*Image courtesy of PokerStars
Canada also earned the most 2014 WCOOP cashes, while Russia captured nine championship bracelets during the September PokerStars WCOOP.
*Images courtesy of PokerStars
Focus Now on 2015 PokerStars Caribbean Adventure
With the major online tournament series concluded for the calendar year, PokerStars will now turn its attention to the 2015 PCA, to be held in the Bahamas from January 6-14.
Next year’s PCA will boast $100,000 and $25,000 buy-in High Roller tournaments, the $10,300 buy-in Main Event, as well as a new “Double Bubble” structure that will award prize money to half of the starting field before playing down to a second bubble.